AFC Totton
Veteran Stags striker Brett Williams can breathe a huge sigh of relief because AFC Totton manager Jimmy Ball has recruited a dedicated goalkeeper to the Snows Stadium ranks in time for the 2022/23 season, in the shape of former Carshalton Athletic shot-stopper Lloyd Thomas.
Following injuries to all three players who had started in goal for the Stags during the course of last season, Williams was pressed into an unfamiliar role between the sticks for the Southampton Senior Cup Final against Folland Sports at St. Mary’s Stadium at the beginning of May.
Thomas, who turns 26 in mid-June, is an experienced goalkeeper having been the No.1 at several clubs in the Wessex League and at Step 3 level. He started off as AFC Portchester’s first-choice keeper as an 18-year-old, remaining with the Royals for 18 months and winning the Wessex League Cup in 2014/15, before moving on to Blackfield & Langley, where he played under former Stags boss Glenn Howes.
Two seasons with Andover Town followed, before the 6’4” shot-stopper moved to Horndean, where he played alongside Dan Sackman and current Stags striker, Shaquille Gwengwe. He then joined Weymouth, with whom he won the Southern League Premier Division in 2018-19, though predominantly as the back-up goalkeeper. Ex-Stag Jordan Ngalo was among his Terras teammates and the pair remain good friends.
After two seasons of non-league football were disrupted by the COVID pandemic, Thomas signed for the South London-based Isthmian Premier Division side Carshalton Athletic. He made 50 appearances for the Robins in all competitions last season, keeping 13 clean sheets as he helped them to a mid-table finish. But Thomas, who lives in Portchester, found the travelling to be too much and welcomed the opportunity to move to a club closer to home.
As a Portsmouth fan, Thomas used to get to Fratton Park early on matchdays so he could watch his idol David James warming up. Thomas describes the former England No.1 as the best goalkeeper he’s ever seen play live, and has incorporated much of James’s pre-game routine into his own preparations.
“The set-up here at Totton is ridiculous! I’ve been around Conference South clubs where the players are full-time that don’t have facilities as good as this,” said Thomas, during his photoshoot at the Snows Stadium on Wednesday evening.
“I knew of Jimmy Ball but now that I know more about his background and what he’s done in the game, I’d have been mad to pass up the chance to come here. And now that I’ve signed, my ambition is to play as many games as possible and help the team in any way I can. I know this club is ambitious and eager to succeed, and so am I.”
The news of Lloyd Thomas’s signing comes in the same week that last season’s regular No.1 and Manager’s Player of the Year Lewis Noice (pictured above) has confirmed his intentions by re-signing for the Stags for the upcoming campaign.
AFC Totton boss Jimmy Ball said:
“The opportunity arose to bring Lloyd to the football club and it was just too good to turn down. We need to have healthy competition for places throughout, if this team is going to succeed, and Lloyd will help to ensure that’s the case. Steve Hollick [AFC Totton Goalkeeper Coach] and Keith Granger [ex-Southampton goalkeeper, now a coach] both recommended him and I’m pleased to bring Lloyd into the group in time for our pre-season programme – if only so I don’t ever have to watch Brett flapping at crosses again!”
By Ben Rochey-Adams
Images courtesy of Craig Hobbs Photography
